Experts Warn That 10,000 Steps Per Day May Actually Be Harmful

Trending News: Hitting 10,000 Steps A Day Might Not Be So Healthy, Experts Warn

Long Story Short

A professor at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore has questioned the wisdom of our obsession with taking 10,000 steps a day and has pointed out that the target could actually be damaging to health.

Long Story

These days 10,000 steps has become something of a mantra as a route to fitness, or at least the appearance thereof.

Every health app out there wants us to get to the magical number of daily steps and it’s become so commonplace that most of us take for granted that there’s a logic to that figure.

However, Dr. Greg Hager from Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland, believes that 10,000 steps may be based on some pretty flimsy logic and in fact could be a dangerous target for some people.

Speaking at the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAS) annual conference in Boston, Hager explained that the 10,000 steps target dates back to 1960s Japan when a less-than-rock-solid calculation was made that suggested the average Japanese man burned 3,000 calories if he walked 10,000 steps a day.

While many fitness fads are based on shaky brilliant science, the fact that over 165,000 healthcare apps have championed 10,000 steps (getting a total of over a billion downloads) is frankly quite scary.

“Some of you might wear Fitbits or something equivalent, and I bet every now and then it gives you that cool little message ‘you did 10,000 steps today.’ But is that the right number for any of you in this room? Who knows? It’s just a number that’s now built into the apps,” Hager told the AAS conference, via Metro.

it's getting to the point where i'm like "am i friends with lauren or am i just friends with her fitbit?" it's all she talks about anymore

The problem with universal fitness goals is that they don’t allow for the vast differences in individual’s capabilities. For some of us 10,000 steps represents an attainable target that pushes us just the right amount, for others it could push them past what's healthy.

Hager explained: “I think apps could definitely be doing more harm than good. I am sure these apps are causing problems. We all know that probably the more you exercise, the better it is for you. But if you are elderly or infirm then this is not going to be good for you.”

In a study of several hundred health apps, it emerged that just five had any scientific evidence to back up their targets. This, added to recent studies finding that Fitbit calculations can be way off the mark, doesn’t look great for the fitness tracking phenomenon.

*running from cops*Me: hey wait hold up if we're gonna do this i really should be wearing my fitbitCop: yeah me too good idea

The message seems to be pretty obvious — you may need to listen to your body, your doctor and common sense rather than blindly following your Fitbit. Not a bad rule to learn for the thousands of Fitbit disciples who would happily let those 10,000 steps lead them over a cliff edge if the app said so.

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Is the 10,000 steps target a dangerous fad or a good way to get in shape?

Drop This Fact

According to experts, the average American adult walks a mere 5,900 steps every day.